Discontinuation bricking

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Discontinuation bricking occurs when a product is "bricked" -- no longer functional -- because the producer has discontinued it. Discontinuation bricking almost exclusively occurs in products that require a connection to a remote server hosted by the producer. The product may become bricked if the company decided to shut down services or go out of business entirely. Discontinuation bricking is a significant harm to consumer rights.

Symptoms of discontinuation bricking

Discontinuation bricking is usually an unintended consequence of some remote service shutting down that the product depends on for complete functionality. The risk of discontinuation bricking occurring can be detected beforehand by observing its symptoms:

1. Product requires an internet connection to a remote server - if a product requires connection to a remote server for functionality there is a risk that the company may shut down the server and brick some function if not all functions of the product. These connections may be necessary because:
   1. Product requires remote authorization - product only works if you can receive authorization from an authorization server. If the authorization server shuts down login will become impossible. An unusual example being the Spotify Car Thing which stopped functioning after Spotify unauthorized the Car Thing from interacting with the Spotify App API
   2. Product has features dependent on remote sources - product may brick if it is unable to access remote information because of server outages.
2. Product depends on a phone application to work - updates to the app may remove support for discontinued product. An example being the Spotify Car Thing which stopped functioning after Spotify unauthorized the Car Thing from interacting with the Spotify App API
3. Product requires physical input on a regular basis - As an example, an electric fridge will brick if the electricity goes out; however, this is more of a large systematic societal problem than a consumer protection issue. A more realistic situation is with HP Inc. printer ink DRM that forces consumers to use HP ink. If HP goes out of business or decides to stop producing its ink any printer depending solely upon it will become bricked, effectively discontinuing the printer even if not explicitly stated.

How discontinuation bricking impacts consumer rights

Discontinuation bricking has real benefit to the consumer in that it can only harm the consumer by making a product they paid for stop functioning, it has much the same harms to consumer rights as does planned obsolescence.

Production of unnecessary waste

Discontinuation bricking will inevitably generate waste given that the product is no longer useful, consumers will choose to discard the product. Its important to note that the producer of the product is to blame for this waste and not the consumer. Ironically, many companies that claim to be "sustainable" will brick devices when the product is no longer profitable.

Loss of ownership

Discontinuation bricking and the possibility that a product may brick itself in the future due to discontinuation directly harms the ability for a consumer to own their product. A consumer does not truly own their product if it risks being bricked.

Dependence on third-party bypasses

After a product has been bricked a consumer may wish to repair their product and return it to a functioning state. De-bricking a product is not impossible but can be difficult depending on the severity of the problem. Consumers will inevitably look to third-parties for methods to bypass the bricking which may open the user to security and safety risks. Bypasses may end up being expensive, with more complicated server-dependent products needing potentially complicated server infrastructure.

Methods to avoid discontinuation bricking

1. Avoid internet and smart products - if it has to connect to an external server to work the product is vulnerable to being bricked.
2. Use open source/schematic products - open source/schematic products are inherently resistant to discontinuation bricking as the consumer is typically given everything they need to resolve outages themselves.
3. Buy products that contractually guarantee source/schematic release on discontinuation - all companies should have an obligation to provide schematic and source code to the general public if they decide to discontinue a product such that consumers are able to maintain their products without dependence on the company, unfortunately this is not legally enforced by most countries. If a company decides to include legally binding agreement to provide source and schematics this is a green flag that they are willing to accept blame for discontinuation bricking and take action to alleviate it.

Examples

• Spotify Car Thing